I tried to improved a photo in my Adobe portfolio and I failed.

Hi @Ar2rM ,

I hope you did not delete the file Adobe accepted as yet. I agree there is a sign of improvement on the second file. However, my eyes captures a slight exposure reduction, but that might not be the main issue for refusal.

The file has chromatic noise. Your colors must be smooth and not in colorful blotches or spots.

The first file has a small level of noise grains and chromatic noise . The noise grain is reduced in the second file, but the chromatic noise still remains. Sometimes a moderator might miss an error and another moderator picks it up. That is one of the reason it's better to give thanks for each accepted file and move on to working on new files to build your portfolio. You can implement the improvement on your new files as you grow your portfolio. 

Never resubmit a refused file before first finding the reason for refusal and making corrections. Resubmitting files without correcting the errors will first earn you non-compliant refusals that lead to suspended account.

Best wishes

Jacquelin

That's the risk you take when deleting & resubmitting an 'already approved' image.

Make a mental note: never do that again.

IMO, neither image should have been accepted. 

They both have a white balance problem (too much green/yellow) and too much blur.

It's a cool photo, but there are some technical issues going on here.  Color/Saturation/White Balance, Tonal/Contrast, Composition, and Sharpness from my perspective:

• If you look at the Histogram, the image is missing whites and reflects underexposure.  I would at least bump up the whites and try to move the "peak" of information towards the middle.  I'd like to see the tones a bit brighter on the bee that is in the foreground as well.
• The composition doesn't have a strong focal point to me.  I think cropping some of the out of focus area would be beneficial in this case.
• I think the depth of field is too shallow for this shot.  I'm having trouble finding much that is in sharp focus here.  Make sure to view your photos at 100%-200% to judge the sharpness.  DoF is particularly challenging with macro shots in my opinion.  
• The white balance looks a bit cool to me and I think the yellows/greens could use some tweaking.

A technically imperfect photo doesn't necessarily mean it's a bad photo.  Some of my favorite photos would never pass for stock. 

I hope this helps.  Cheers!